etcircenses: (Default)
Panem Events ([personal profile] etcircenses) wrote in [community profile] thecapitol2013-12-15 06:36 am

The Crowning of Enjolras

WHO| All Tributes and Victor, plus a few Capitol guests
WHAT| The Crowning of Enjolras
WHERE| The Tribute Center
WHEN| A few weeks after the end of the Arena
WARNINGS| Forced medical experimentation, needles.

The atmosphere surrounding the Crowning is both tense and secretive. The style teams flutter around listlessly, having received no information from which to draft their designs. Newspapers take bets on when it will be announced where the Crowning is being held, descending into grousing when no press release is given. Peacekeepers pour in and out of the Tribute Center, accompanied by scientists who occasionally pull Tributes aside and look at the veins in their elbows. Even the Avoxes seem jumpier than usual.

Aside from the Tribute Center's new giant marble statute of a nude Enjolras, posed like the famed David, one could almost forget the party is supposed to be celebratory.

When the day arrives, the Escorts and their assistants don't lead the Tributes to their style teams to be gussied instead. Instead, they hush the Tributes and bring them to their bedrooms, where a Peacekeeper, a white-coated citizen and several Avoxes await them. The Escorts instruct the Tributes to lay down in their bed and close their eyes, and a needle is inserted into their arms that the Escorts insist will 'take them to the party'. It's soon followed by a series of sensors taped to the forehead.

Just relax, the Escorts say, and they do their very best to make sure their Tributes feel minimal anxiety. If the Tributes resist too much, more Peacekeepers are called in, and the Tributes are forced into submission.

The first effect is a sort of paralysis - not the terrifying inability to move, but a signal to the brain that says why move? Moving is so much effort. It's quickly followed by drowsiness, and then a chill that radiates from the needle into the body, and finally, unconsciousness.

And that is when the party begins. The Tributes, now dressed in luxurious 1830's French clothing of a quality beyond even what their Stylists could manage, wake up in the front row of a large stone theater setting reminiscent of, simultaneously, Greek and French architecture. The floor of the theater is filled with buffets of every imaginable sort of food. Rose petals fall from the sky, which displays a sunset worthy of award-winning photography.

For his part, Enjolras sits in a throne made of books on the ring of the amphitheater, flanked by Marius, Cosette, Eponine, and bizarrely enough Venus Dee Milo and Ellie, seated on lush pillows and carpets made of dinosaur skin (with the heads comically attached and eyes lolling).

"Welcome, welcome, our Tributes and Mentors, to the first ever somnofestival, sponsored by Hypnogogia!" Caesar Flickerman, noted talkshow host and Games presenter, appears in a fabulous sequined toga in the center of the amphitheater. He doesn't need a microphone; the acoustics here are flawless. "And congratulations to our Victor! Let us hear it for Enjolras!"

He awaits applause.

"As you may have noticed, you're inside a shared dream, due to the just fantastic technology from the Capitol and certain, ah, biological contributions from our dear favorite Aunamee." He holds a hand out and gestures to Aunamee, anticipating wild applause. "We thought that for our most philosophical Victor yet, we should celebrate in a way that's a little bit…cerebral."

Caesar laughs and gestures at all the food, then puts a cheeky finger to his lips. "By all means, enjoy yourselves. Even the most indulgent desserts here won't show up on your hips tomorrow. The party only last three hours, so you might as well get started!"

He vanishes into thin air, leaving the Tributes to celebrate. Occasionally, the Tributes will hear voices in their heads - chatter from the Peacekeeper and scientist and Escort still in their room, in the waking world. Otherwise, this is a party like any other, if somewhat surreal in nature.

-/-

The party begins the same way for all the Tributes. For an unlucky few, however, it soon diverges as they come under an unfortunate glitch in the system.

They'll look around and find only a handful of their fellow Tributes around them. The sky, rather than being a magnificent splay of color, is now blank white, and yet the lighting in the theater seems dim. A sense of panic, detached from any conscious thoughts, surges forth in them like the tide.

For them, this isn't a shared dream. This is a shared nightmare.
acroodawakening: (003)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-01-04 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
Guy gestured for her to follow alongside him and started peeping out at all the other tables to try to find his mark.

He leaned towards her conspiratorially.

"What are you in the mood for? Fruit? More of these weird dough things? I think we should get what would taste best and what would be the best challenge."
knifewithnoname: (excited smiles)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-01-04 10:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Well the best challenge would be being things at the middle of the table." She scanned the table looking for things she knew and liked. There really was all sorts of food here, some she didn't recognise at all despite her attempts to try everything the capitol had to offer.

"Look! They do be having honey cakes!"
acroodawakening: (003)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-01-16 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Honey cakes! Well, now we know our target." Guy rubbed his hands together. "What do you think? I think we can use that dessert cart for cover, roll under that table there, work our way up underneath it, and then roll across the aisle to the other table. Sound like a plan?"
knifewithnoname: (pondering)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-01-16 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna grinned and scanned the tables, going through what he was saying in her head, working out how hard it would be, where the difficulties would lie and how they could fix them.

"We will be having to be being fast rollers." She said, "But I think we can be doing it." Well she thought she could do it, but surely if he was rubbish he wouldn't have suggested the plan.
acroodawakening: (003)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-01-22 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
"I concur," he said, making it clear he took her tactical assessment very seriously. "Okay, are you ready?"
knifewithnoname: (pondering)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-01-22 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
She nodded, scanning the tables one more time. "I do be being ready." She was crouching already and she began making her way over to the desert cart like they had planned, checking to make sure the man was coming with her.
acroodawakening: (003)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-01-30 08:21 am (UTC)(link)
"Okay. Ready? On three. One... two... three!"

And he scrambled to the desert cart, looking back to make sure she was following.
knifewithnoname: (pondering)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-01-30 11:37 am (UTC)(link)
She was following and a moment later she was behind the desert cart, crouching low to not be seen.

Next part, rolling under the table. She looked over at the man to check he was ready.
acroodawakening: (003)

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-01-30 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Born ready, Pruna. He nodded once, very decisively and then dove into a roll.
knifewithnoname: (smiles)

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-01-31 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
She was right behind him, diving into a roll and coming up crouched underneath the table. "I do no even be thinking anyone did be seeing us." She whispered with a triumphant grin.
acroodawakening: (008)

wanna wrap up here?

[personal profile] acroodawakening 2014-02-01 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
"And now, to enjoy the fruits of our labor," Guy said, reaching and grabbing the honey cakes, holding the entire plate out to her and taking one for himself.
knifewithnoname: (excited smiles)

yup!

[personal profile] knifewithnoname 2014-02-01 10:58 am (UTC)(link)
Pruna grinned and took the plate, taking a honey cake herself and biting into it. It was delicious and she smiled at the man happily, thinking that maybe this playing games thing wasn't as stupid as she had thought.